Just so there is some clarity on the subject, here is where I am coming from completely.
I am working on an rpm spec file for inclusion of SlimServer in rpm.livna.org rpm.livna.org is a yum repository for packages that can not be included in Fedora Core or Fedora Extras because of patent issues. To get SlimServer into rpm.livna.org there are several things I need to do - some of it is done. The ~/Bin stuff has to go, that's done - Fedora already provides a lame binary and an oggdec binary. I have an rpm spec file that works (at least for me) for Apple's mDNSResponderPosix. I don't have an rpm yet for mppdec because it fails to compile for me, probably a trivial patch - but no sense working on it now because FC4 will ship with a new version of gcc - so it would be better to patch the mpp stuff to that gcc. The other issue is the CPAN/arch stuff. It looks to me by reading the slimserver perl script that SlimServer is dependent upon specific versions - not an issue, I can make a slimserver-perl package src.rpm that builds those specific versions and installs them into CPAN/arch I hope to have this ready for inclusion in rpm.livna.org for FC4 release date in June. It probably would not be in rpm.livna.org until some time after, as the packages have to go through a QA process. But when it is done, a Fedora User will simply need to add the rpm.livna.org repositories, and they can then install slimserver by running yum install slimserver The server and any dependencies would just be pulled in, and the user would ready to point their browser to port 9000 and be done. Updates that fix bugs, bugs either fixed by slimdevices - or bugs fixed by the Fedora Community - would automatically be pushed to users when the rpms are updated on the rpm.livna.org server. If there was a lossy way of streaming that did not use a patented technology, it would be possible to get slimserver into Fedora Extras. I don't know what the patent status is on the mpp stuff - or if it can run without it (I suspect), that may have to remain in livna (like the gstreamer plugin for mp3 is in livna even though gstreamer-plugins are in core) I also do not know about Apple's mDNSResponderPosix. That product actually looks like it could be useful for a LOT of different things in Fedora, it is open source - and Apple does permit grant to use without a license - so it may not take much at all to get it into Fedora Extras. slimserver itself though I don't think will be able to go into extras unless it would be useful to people who do not use music files created with an encoder that has patent distribution issues. SlimServer works fine with ogg now, but only if streamed lossless or if transcoded to mp3. Lossless streaming of ogg files as PCM or FLAC is not attractive to the Fedora Extras community, and transcoding to mp3 would require lame. Slimserver could be patched by the OSS to stream ogg, but such a patch would not work with a Squeezebox unless the Squeezebox could do something with that ogg stream. Starting with Fedora Core 4, Fedora Extras will be enabled by default on a users machine. The goal for Fedora is that by FC5, a user can install stuff from Extras that they want at the time that they install. Having SlimServer in Fedora Extras thus means that all a Fedora user would have to do is run "yum install slimserver" and they are good to go. Slick, easy, trouble free installation - with a support backend to push updates through when available every time the user runs "yum update" on their system. Such ease of installation/maintenance means more users of SlimServer, even if they are not all users of SqueezeBox itself - more users of the server potentially means more issues being resolved in a timely manner (it's an open source project) which means a better product for buyers of the product on ANY platform. That's where I'm coming from - that's what oggdec on the SqueezeBox firmware would potentially do. -- http://mpeters.us/ _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list Discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
